When a prosthesis has been implanted in a bone for a certain time, typically several years, it may prove necessary to remove the prosthesis for various reasons: for example, wear of the prosthesis, degeneration of the bony material of the prosthesis implantation site, trauma, and the like. The prosthesis removed is generally replaced by a revision prosthesis, the success and the implantation performance of which depend on the residual stock of bony material after removing the initial prosthesis. Consequently, surgeons aim to limit as much as possible any cutting of bony material necessary to free and extract the initial prosthesis.
With the arrival of prostheses with a porous surface or, more generally, adapted to have their surface colonized by the bone of the implantation site, extraction operations may prove particularly delicate. To this end, the surgeon generally employs osteotomes, the application of which may advantageously be guided to improve the precision of their action. Then, once the bonding interface between the prosthesis and the bony material has been cut in this way by these osteotomes, the surgeon uses another surgical tool to grasp and pull on the prosthesis in order to extract it.